2011 Cannes Film Festival-Some Conterversies (Videos)

The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 11–22.

It’s time for the Cannes Film Festival and, with everyone from Mel Gibson to French president Nicolas Sarkozy due to attend, this could well be the wildest, most controversial one to date. Here’s what we expect from this year’s cinematic soiree in the sun. Chief among Hollywood royalty in Cannes will be Brangelina – Brad Pitt doing his bit for Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life and Angelina Jolie promoting animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2.

Johnny Depp, who makes a return to swashbuckling in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will be there with Vanessa Paradis, as will co-star Penelope Cruz with Oscar-winning husband Javier Bardem.

Depending on when she gives birth to her first kid, Marion Cotillard, and actor boyfriend Guillaume Canet, should also attend to promote Midnight In Paris, Woody Allen’s latest film, which opens the festival.

Robert De Niro will be heading the Cannes jury. Helping De Niro decide who walks away with this year’s Palme d’Or is the usual combination of big stars (Jude Law, Uma Thurman) and people you’ve probably never heard of like Argentine actress Martina Gusmán and Norwegian writer Linn Ullmann.

For starters, there’s the return of the man who’s been tap-dancing on the self-destruct button, Mel Gibson. The actor/director, who Australians now like to refer to as ‘an American’, tries to rebuild his reputation with The Beaver, a comedy-drama about a depressed CEO of a toy company who uses a beaver hand-puppet to communicate. 

While it’ll be fascinating to see how the public react to the film (Cannes audiences have no problem booing at the screen), the real talking point is Gibson’s presence on the red carpet in what will be the first shot in a charm offensive to win back fans left disgusted by his phone manner. Also bound to make headlines is La Conquête (The Conquest), a scathing biopic about French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise to power in which he frets about his height and compares himself to a Ferrari. Sarkozy was expected to attend the Festival – especially since his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy makes her acting debut in Midnight In Paris – but whether he has the guts to walk down the red carpet to sniggers remains to be seen.

Other films sure to generate column inches are Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia – the sci-fi offering about a planet that might hit earth features Kirsten Dunst’s heavenly body without a stitch of clothing; Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, a story about a vengeful plastic surgeon; and Snowtown, an Aussie film about the shocking “Bodies in the Barrels Murders” which took place between 1992 and 1999 in South Australia.

This year’s festival will also showcase the acting chops of Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson. The 19-year-old stars alongside Sean Penn and Frances McDormand in This Must Be The Place, about a former rock star who travels across America to confront a Nazi who persecuted his father.

All Movies to watch

1. BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA (ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA) directed by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN
2. DRIVE directed by Nicolas WINDING REFN
3. HABEMUS PAPAM directed by Nanni MORETTI
4. HANEZU NO TSUKI (HANEZU) directed by Naomi KAWASE
5. HEARAT SHULAYIM (Footnote) directed by Joseph CEDAR
6. ICHIMEI (HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI) directed by Takashi MIIKE
7. L'APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE (HOUSE OF TOLERANCE) directed by Bertrand BONELLO
8. LA PIEL QUE HABITO (THE SKIN I LIVE IN) directed by Pedro ALMODÓVAR
9. LA SOURCE DES FEMMES (THE SOURCE) directed by Radu MIHAILEANU
10. LE GAMIN AU VÉLO (THE KID WITH A BIKE) directed by Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE
11. LE HAVRE directed by Aki KAURISMÄKI
12. MELANCHOLIA directed by Lars VON TRIER
13. MICHAEL directed by Markus SCHLEINZER
14. PATER directed by Alain CAVALIER
15. POLISSE (POLISS) directed by MAÏWENN
16. SLEEPING BEAUTY directed by Julia LEIGH
17. THE ARTIST directed by Michel HAZANAVICIUS
18. THE TREE OF LIFE directed by Terrence MALICK
19. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE directed by Paolo SORRENTINO
20. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN directed by Lynne RAMSAY

Movies to Watch in Summer 2011 (Videos) Part1

Movies to Watch in summer 2011 (Videos)

Check out Synopsis you can look forward to as the 2011 summer movies roar into theaters, beginning in May 2011.

There's comic-book fodder like "Thor," "Green Lantern" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." There are sequels galore, such as "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," "The Hangover, Part II" and "Transformers 3."

There are comedies like "Bad Teacher" and "Horrible Bosses." There's also the very last "Harry Potter" installment (*sniff*). There's even "Smurfs."

1. Thor (May 6)

Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgard; directed by Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: “Thor,” the latest Marvel comic book adaptation follows the powerful but arrogant warrior Thor (Hemsworth), Actors is stripped of his superpowers and cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard to live on Earth. Once there, he warms up to his new environs and soon becomes the humans’ defender when angry gods come calling.

2. Bridesmaids (May 13)

Actors: Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey; directed by Paul Feig

Synopsis: A comedy centered on two women (Wiig and Byrne) battling to plan their friend’s wedding party.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May 20)

Actors: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane; directed by Rob Marshall

Synopsis: Capt. Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive Fountain of Youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it, too.

4. The Hangover Part II (May 27)

 Actors: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, ZZach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Liam Neeson; directed by Todd Phillips

Synopsis: Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug travel to Bangkok for Stu’s wedding. And in Synopsis manner of mayhem will they find themselves in this time?

5. Kung Fu Panda 2 (May 26)

Actors: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman; directed by Jennifer Yuh

Synopsis: Po (Black) joins forces with a group of new kung-fu masters to take on an old enemy with a deadly new weapon.

6. X-Men: First Class (June 3)

Actors: James McAvoy, January Jones, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence; directed by Matthew Vaughn

Synopsis: Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr were archenemies and took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.